Claw and Hand In Accord (Private For Silvertip and Dio)

[Silvertip]

Deextinction — the practice of bringing animals back from the abyss of extinction — originated as little more than a philosophical experiment. But Jurassic Park —Michael Crichton's legendary 1990 novel and its equally famous 1993 film adaption — had taken the term out of the staid halls of academia and into the public imagination in the most bombastic way possible.

Resurrecting the legendary Terrible Lizards. Dinosaurs.

Unfortunately, reality intruded. The technology and science at the time was simply incapable of such an act of wizardry. And deextinction was once again relegated to the halls of academia as a theoretical exercise. But technology never stops advancing. And so, with the dawn of the Biotech Age, a mere thought experiment was once again within the grasp of scientists.

In 2011, paleontologist Jack Horner held the TEDTalk, “Building a Dinosaur from a Chicken” that implanted the first seeds of this idea in the 11 year old Owen Grant. Enraptured by this idea, he vowed to bring Jack Horner's dream to life. Twenty five years later, with his doctorate in genetics in hand and working with the most advanced techniques in gene sequencing and genome editing, his team at Greenfield Genetics produced the first living dinosaur seen in eons: a Velociraptor.

Sensing a business opportunity, Greenfield Genetics purchased a large tract of land out in the plains of Montana and set about remaking it in the image of the Mesozoic. In 2039, the zoological garden/theme park known as Mesozoic Zoo was opened with much fanfare. In that time, Deinonychus, Troodon and Utahraptor were among the dromaeosaurids revived using the same model. And they had also hatched a Compsognathus — the first non-dromaeosaurid theropod created. It would appear that they were well on their way to reviving the whole menagerie of Mesozoic creatures but then, trouble arose.
Complaints poured in about the "dinosaurs" acting like domestic chickens and with that, Mesozoic Zoo's profits began to plunge. Doctor Grant's team soon decided to do some additional genetic modifications to the brains of these "dinosaurs". And it worked, perhaps far too well. This new batch of raptors not only behaved like the actual dinosaurs, they were also extremely intelligent, capable of passing the mirror test. This was discarded as a curiosity but when one of the raptors spoke, further tests were conducted with all due haste.

What the scientists found shocked everyone; those talking raptors were not merely mimicking sounds. They understood the words and their context and were as intelligent and self-aware as humans. Since exhibiting these sapient raptors in a zoo was likely to cause a public backlash, Greenfield Genetics made the decision to permanently shutter Mesozoica Zoo and convert it to a closed town known as Mesozoica. There, scientists taught the theropods basic living skills, how to integrate into Human society as well as conducting research on them.

It was then they noticed an unusual biological quirk. Every single one of the sapient theropods (now called Mesozoicans after the town) had some degree of incontinence, ranging from nocturnal incontinence to total incontinence. The scientists tried to find a cure but were stymied by the fact that the genes that control brain development were also involved in the development of nerves that were responsible for continence.

And so in 2051, Mesozoica was finally opened and revealed to the public. Public outcry and even violence erupted but soon, order was restored and debates about what to do with these newly created organisms arose. After four years of legal brawling, it was declared that Mesozoicans were persons akin to humans and Mesozoica was separated from Montana to form an administrative city-state akin to Washington D.C.

As for the outside world, computer science and engineering had advanced just as fast as biotech. Cybernetic implants and gene mods became all the rage among the populace. Companies grew so powerful they controlled entire cities and some had such influence and power they were more akin to sovereign countries than corporations. And along with this massive rise in corporate power came the rise of corruption, crime and violence.

The spread of cybernetic implants and genemods already created the first cracks in social strata. The genesis of the Mesozoicans would only serve to widen these cracks..

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Tarpon Run, Florida. A sleepy fishing village out on the Florida Keys, seemingly untouched by advent of the Cyber Age with its sandy beaches and numerous small fishing boats. But its timeless and wholesome look belies a much nastier facade.

Its proximity to the Great Gulf Trade Route and its massive industrial cities -- and its relative isolation on the Florida Keys -- made it a haven for piracy and assorted criminal activities. And of course, fishing and aquaculture were a surprisingly good means of laundering money.

And that was where Tssklar (or "Blacktip" as he was often called on account of his black tipped white feathers) and his partner found themselves. The Deinonychus inhaled the salty sea air and swished his tail as he peered through his binoculars at a fishing boat offloading something at one of the docks.

A crinkling was heard as he adjusted his position. Like all Mesozoicans, he was incontinent and as such, wore a diaper.

[diokno44]

His partner, an Android by the name of Carter Blackwood, came up, with two cans of soda. "How's watch going Tss?" He asked his partner, setting the cans down on their table. He used his augmented eyes to scan around the nearby area. He stood 5'10, with lightly tanned synthetic skin, and neat chcolate colored hair, and a trimned beard.

[Silvertip]

Blacktip snorted. "Saw someone offloading some clams, crapped my diaper and saw someone taking a whizz off one of the docks. Same old, same old."

"Wait," he said as he trained his binoculars on a suspiciously well-dressed man handing over a fat stack of bills to a tiny Velociraptor who was naked save for a plain white swim diaper. "I think we have something here..."

[diokno44]

"Hah." Caleb chuckled, sipping his soda. His cybernetic eyes then swiveled over to where his partner was looking. "You may be on to something. Unless this is a suspiciously generous company owner who personally hands the pay to his workers, something's fishy." He nodded.

[Silvertip]

Blacktip stuck his tongue out at his partner. "Hey, not my fault I'm incontinent." He then noticed the raptor leading the well dressed man back out onto the docks and out of sight of the two.

A few minutes passed and the man returned with a small box of something that most certainly wasn't seafood. "I think we got him this time! After me!" He drew his pistol from his chest holster, leapt out of the bushes and burst off running. Even his rather full diaper didn't seem to slow him down.

"Freeze!" he exclaimed, pointing his pistol at the well dressed man. "Drop the box!"

[diokno44]

Carter simply put down his soda can, leaped into the air, and glided down to the duo. He pulled out his Dominator pistol. It was a specialized pistol that if need be could vaporize a target, given the right parameters.

The well suited man raised his hands into the air. "Evening officers, what seems to be the problem?" He asked, with a slight Southern accent

[Silvertip]

Blacktip scowled at the man. "Drop the act," he said. "What is in that box?"

Thanks to his sharp teeth and predatory appearance, the Deinonychus often played "bad cop". Even with the diaper sagging off his rump, there was something in him that played to Humanity's primal fears.

[diokno44]

The man scoffed, and slowly opened the box. He pulled out a donut. "Just some food I was bringing to a friend of mine. He offered to reimburse me." He smiled, munching on it. "Hmm, glazed. Want one?" He waved it. Carter still kept his pistol on the man, but lowered it a tiny bit

[Silvertip]

Blacktip scowled. Sure the man's cargo looked innocent but that fat stack of bills he saw being handed off said otherwise. "That was an awful lot of money being exchanged for some donuts."

He clicked his large toe claw and turned to the man. "May we search you?" he asked.

[diokno44]

"Eh, I also owed him some money." The man shrugged. "Be my guest officer, I've got nothing to hide." Caleb began patting him down, only finding a vial of Neuropozyne, a pharmaceutical drug required for any newly augmented individual that allowed their body to not reject the augments. Speaking of, both the man's arms were cybernetic. "Hmm."